On this date in history....

Discussion in 'Prewar' started by A-58, Dec 27, 2015.

  1. A-58

    A-58 Not so senior Member

    1862 - The Battle of Stones River or the Battle of Murfreesboro (as referred to by the Confederacy), began on December 31. Hostilities ceased in observance of the New Year's Day holiday, then resumed in earnest on January 2, 1863. The battle had the dubious honor of having the highest percentage of casualties of troops engaged (76,400 on both sides) in the entire war. Total casualties in the battle were 24,645: 12,906 on the Union side and 11,739 for the Confederates.
     
  2. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  3. A-58

    A-58 Not so senior Member

    January 3, 1777 General George Washington leads his glorious troops to victory in battle over General Lord Cornwallis's much smaller army in the Battle of Princeton (New Jersey). The Patriots had about 4,500 men while the Redcoats fielded about 1,200 or so.

    Here's a picture of Georgie rallying fleeing militia. He and the other Patriot generals had to do that a lot in the war I've learned, and were pretty good at it after awhile since the militia seemed to always decide to call it a day and run away just when they were needed the most. After rallying the militia, George himself led the counter attack and drove back the British forces, forcing an orderly withdrawal. Many supply wagons were abandoned on the road to the Patriots, who helped themselves to the goods. They even looted the town of Princeton too. Damn yankees.

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    The Battle of Princeton was a very small affair as battles were gauged by of the day. The British considered it a rather large skirmish, while the Yanks felt that they could stay in the field and fight the Redcoats. This battle was the end of Washington's winter campaign in southern New Jersey, and it was the 3rd of 3 smallish sized battles that ended in victory for the Patriot Army. Recruitment soared for awhile once the word got around about the string of victories. For the most part, it was defeat after defeat when news from the battlefield arrived.


    Here's a picture of Patriot General Hugh Mercer being run through with the bayonet. This action, along with Mercer's troops (mostly militia) deciding to run away caused the rest of Washington's militia to run away. Bayonet warfare was never popular with the Revolutionary American forces. They mostly used it to cook with. The British and the Hessians knew how to use it properly, and used it a lot to scare the militia off.



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    Yes, in case you were wondering, that is General Washington in the center of the poitrait, mounted and pointing his sword towards the enemy. Actually, he was much further in the rear when General Mercer got run through. That is when he rallied the militia and counter-attacked to save the day. You can't really trust these fanciful poitraits to properly "paint the picture" of the battle, just like those silly inaccurate Hollywood movies.
     
    Owen likes this.
  4. Rav4

    Rav4 Senior Member

    Jan 04 1999. Birth of the Euro.
     

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